Not getting it so nothing from me this year. 19 was so bad gameplay wise that I haven't touched FIFA apart from an hour on the beta, for 3 months. Normally I would be excited to get back in, back 19 has finished it. No wish to sink untold hours into this again.
Who knows, maybe I'll play it again one day, maybe when the PS5 comes, but for now I'm playing Football Manager and Fortnite. Also have Red Dead 2 that I barely played last year and Skyrim I bought ages ago and haven't touched (since the PS3), but for now I have no interest in FIFA at all.

So how's everyone doing?

It's horrible for me. Currently 4-6. Would snatch your hand off if you offered me Gold 3 right now!
Didn't think it possible, but it's even worse than last year. This new patch has brought back PTB again. So much more viable with the changes. Long shots worse, AI defenders stronger again, keepers able to turn out Butlandesque performances. Every team is pure pace and attempting to attack with just three players with everyone else defending. Through ball and 180 degree passes are still stupidly OP so they will normally score somehow.

The absolute worst thing is the amount of goals scored straight from kick off. I'm not talking about zigzagging straight through. It just seems that 80% of the time, the side kicking off can pass about and with the way that the AI of both teams act, create a clear scoring chance. This was glaringly obvious last year, but is just a joke this year, even worse.  At least one or two goals straight from kick off every game.

I had an unfortunate start as well. First game was in extra time and my Playstation just decides to eject the disc, causing the game to crash. The thing turned itself on in the middle of the night doing this as well. It's a well known problem due to an over sensitive eject button. On the advise of a Pro clubs team mate, i gave the console a massive clean and have raised it by propping it up with DVD boxes so that the eject button has a couple of centremetres of nothing between it and the table.

Hopefully tomorrow goes better, although it normally takes me a couple of months at least to be able to win more than I lose so as I say, would love to somehow make Gold 3.

 



GK: Casillas, FC Porto - 84>86
 CB: Andrea Barzagli, Juventus - 84>85
 CB: Papy Mison Djilobodji, SV Werder Bremen (FC Nantes) - 78>80
 CB: Jonas Olsson, West Bromwich Albion - 78>80
 LM(CAM): Coutinho, Liverpool - 84>86
 LM(LW): Pedro, Chelsea - 83>84
 CM: Corentin Tolisso, Olympique Lyonnais - 77>80
 CAM(RW): Mohamed Salah, Roma - 80>81
 ST: Troy Deeney, Watford - 75>78
 ST: Ciro Immobile, Torino(Sevilla FC) - 79>80
 ST: Luis Suárez, FC Barcelona - 90>96

SUBS

 GK: Robin Himmelmann, FC St. Pauli - 67>72
 RB: Michael Lang, FC Basel - 72>74
 CB: Aden Flint, Bristol City - 70>74
 RM(CAM): Karim Azamoum, ES Troyes AC - 64>64
 RM: Iván Etevenaux, Belgrano de Córdoba - 61>64
 ST: Julien Toudic, AC Ajaccio - 64>64
 ST: Blake Powell, Wellington Phoenix - 59>64

RESERVES

 CB: Stipe Vučur, 1. FC Kaiserslautern - 69>69
 CAM(CDM): Karol Linetty, Lech Poznań - 72>74
 CM: Yannick Gerhardt, 1. FC Köln - 72>74
 RM(LM): Vitolo, Sevilla FC - 81>83
 ST: Lars Veldwijk, PEC Zwolle - 68>72

GK: Jack Butland, Stoke City - 74>74
 RB(CDM): Philipp Lahm, Bayern München - 87>88
 CB: Kalidou Koulibaly, Napoli - 78>80
 CB: Mats Hummels, Borussia Dortmund - 86>87
 LM(LW): Yevgen Konoplyanka, Sevilla FC - 82>84
 CM: Jordan Henderson, Liverpool - 79>80
 CM: Yassin Ayoub, FC Utrecht - 73>74
 RM (CDM): Saúl, Atlético de Madrid - 76>78
 ST: Mauro Icardi, Inter - 79>80
 RW(CAM): Ángel Di María, Paris Saint-Germain - 85>87
 ST: Javier Hernández, Bayer 04 Leverkusen(Manchester United) - 80>81

SUBS

 GK: Charles Itandje, Çaykur Rizespor - 70>74
 LB: Jerome Okimo, Stevenage - 60>64
 LM(CM): Iain Vigurs, Inverness Caledonian Thistle - 66>72
 CM: Aaron Mooy, Melbourne City - 70>73
 CM: Liam Noble, Notts County - 57>64
 LW(LM): Eric Bauthéac, LOSC Lille - 75>78
 ST: Massimo Maccarone, Empoli - 73>74

RESERVES

 GK: Timo Horn, 1. FC Köln
 CB: Mateo Musacchio, Villarreal CF
 CM: Harry Arter, Bournemouth
 ST(CAM): Lucas Pérez, RC Deportivo
 ST: Aleksandar Mitrović, Newcastle United

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Bit of a dodgy one this week. Have picked up a few for below 10k already. In have come Bautheuc, Horn and Mitrovic. Will also pick up Perez. Watching Icardi. Everything is already cheap from 100k packs.

Just a bit late with this:


GK: Casillas, FC Porto - 84>85
RB: Dani Alves, FC Barcelona - 84>85
RB: Darijo Srna, Shakhtar Donetsk - 81>82
CB: Lorenzo Tonelli, Empoli - 77>80
LB: Layvin Kurzawa, Paris Saint-Germain - 80>82
LM: Fabian Johnson, Borussia M'gladbach - 76>80
CM(CAM): Diego Valeri, Portland Timbers - 78>80
CAM(LW): Yannick Bolasie, Crystal Palace - 76>80
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Borussia Dortmund - 82>84
ST: Aduriz, Athletic Club de Bilbao - 82>83
ST: Gonzalo Higuaín, Napoli - 84>86

SUBS

GK: Rafał Gikiewicz, Eintracht Braunschweig - 69>72
LB: Escudero, Sevilla FC - 73>74
RM: Chris Whelpdale, Stevenage - 63>64
LW(CAM): Lucas Andersen, Willem II - 73>74
ST: Rubin Okotie, TSV 1860 München - 71>74
ST: M'Baye Niang, Milan - 74>74
ST: Conor Washington, Peterborough United - 60>64

RESERVES

LWB(LB): Patrick van Aanholt, Sunderland - 74>74
CDM(CM): Kim Källström, Grasshopper Club Zürich - 78>80
CM: Gonzalo Castro, Borussia Dortmund - 81>82
ST: André-Pierre Gignac, Tigres U.A.N.L. - 81>82
ST: Michiel Kramer, Feyenoord - 74>74
[/quote]

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Anyone pick any up this week? I did!
Bought Valeri, Aduriz, Kallstrom and finished off tonight with Gignac and Kramer.
After a clearout of my club and the selling of my IF Raffael team, that I bought around Black Friday, for a decent amount of profit, suddenly ended up with a lot of spare coins now. Would have bought Srna and Tonelli also if I hadn't already used them in successful cup teams. I have little doubt that Srna will be one of the best fullbacks on the game, as he is without fail every year. Just that you never play against him. You don't know until you use him!

Rules

As last year, I am undertaking my tournaments challenge. The stipulations I am following for each team are:

* Most be 3 league hybrids, with 4 players from two of the league and 3 players from the other. For a special tournament, the team is ok to meet the requirements of that tournament, even if it is just teams from one certain league or nation.
* All teams must be 100 chemistry.
* All players must be at least 9 chemistry.

Over the course of the next year, by the end of FUT16, I aim to complete as many of the following as possible:

* Win tournaments with every formation.
* Win tournaments with teams containing players of every single nationality in FUT.
* Win tournaments with teams containing players from every single league on FUT.
* Win tournaments using at least one player from every single club containing a gold player on FUT, although if a club has only one gold player, it doesn't necessarily mean i'll use that gold player, it could be someone else from that club.
* Win tournaments using players from every single club from the BPL, Serie A, BBVA, Bundesliga and Ligue1.

I know I will get nowhere near finishing this, but it gives me a structure to the game and keeps things interesting by using so many different players, instead of the same 15 from each of the top leagues that you come up against almost constantly after the first couple of months.
Thoroughly enjoyed it the last couple of years on FUT 14 and 15, so no reason to not do it again. Also really enjoy the team building aspect as well.

Anyone have any thoughts on this announced today?
I'm not convinced. Will it be dead once the novelty wears off, and will they actually be able to implement it without messing things right up? This being EA, can they be trusted? If they do it right it could be good, but could your typical FUT player risk a loss on there record that would come if they had to use below 60 pace players in half their team. They wouldn't be able to defend without Walker and Ramires!
Also 15k to enter with your money back if you lose in the first round? That'll blatently be two shocking 7.5k packs with Hangelland as your best player!
Not too long until we find out.